Dr. Gad Saad joins me on The Will Kane Show to discuss his new book, The Parasitic Mind, and his new podcast, The Sad Truth with Dr. Saad. We talk about why the Democratic Party is in crisis, and what it can do to fix it.
00:00:00.960The problem last night on MSNBC was white women.
00:00:03.800When I woke up this morning on MSNBC, Joe Scarborough was explaining that Latino men are also racist, that black men are also racist and misogynist.
00:00:12.920That the problem is that we haven't quadrupled down yet on calling the country mortally flawed and racist.
00:00:20.520Let's break that down now with Dr. Gad Saad, friend of the program here on The Will Kane Show.
00:00:24.660He's a visiting professor and global ambassador at Northwood University.
00:00:28.400He's also the author of The Parasitic Mind and the creator and the host of The Sad Truth with Dr. Saad.
00:01:00.980And because this is a dividing line being drawn today, Dr. Saad, you are educated because this is also being laid at the feet of the uneducated.
00:01:09.760You are actually many of the things that someone would say should be in a voting coalition for Kamala Harris.
00:01:16.560At least if not on your ballot spiritually.
00:01:19.220But why do you feel this liberation today?
00:01:42.580They're not restricted to people in the United States or to Canada or in Kazakhstan.
00:01:46.820If you believe in truth and freedom, there is no conceivable pathway by which you would think that Kamala Harris and the Democrats are the party to support.
00:01:57.280And by the way, since Canada, you know, there's an old expression that says when the United States sneezes, Canada catches a cold.
00:02:03.800So I may be in a different country, but I'm your neighborly, you know, cousin, so to speak.
00:02:10.240And therefore, what happens in the United States certainly affects me.
00:02:14.300You know, I was just having a discussion with Fox's chief political analyst and the host and executive editor of Special Report, Brett Baer, talking about where this can leave Democrats going forward.
00:02:28.360Can they pick a candidate who is more moderate?
00:02:30.960The problem with that potentiality are said in my estimation is that the first principles of a democracy, of the things that you want to hold dear, of a free people are exactly the principles that have been jettisoned by Democrats, to your point.
00:02:48.720And I don't know of many people on the left, even those not running for office.
00:02:55.100I'm talking about those walking the streets who have shown a fidelity to the concept of free speech, who have shown a fidelity to objective reality, who have shown a fidelity to judging individuals as individuals and not their identities.
00:03:08.320And I don't know how you can rehabilitate the left simply by picking a different person at the top of the left.
00:03:14.520Agreed. And actually, I mean, more generally, I think the architecture of the human mind is such that it is profoundly difficult for people to ever admit that they were wrong, especially when it's about an anchored position that defines their personhood, right?
00:03:33.080So I was recently asked on a show, what is the singular phenomenon that has most surprised me about human behavior and human nature in my 30 plus years as a behavioral scientist?
00:03:43.160And I paused for a minute and I said the inability for people to change their minds, even if I give you incontrovertible, unassainable tsunami of evidence.
00:03:53.580So regrettably, never mind that as the Democrats we're talking about here, it's just most people don't have the epistemological humility to say, hey, I was wrong.
00:04:02.600That's what makes someone like Elon Musk and Joe Rogan and Megyn Kelly so extraordinary because they did hold different views.
00:04:10.660One of them didn't like Trump. Now she loves him.
00:04:13.880Joe Rogan and Elon Musk used to be of the left. Now they're no longer of the left.
00:04:18.060They were big supporters of Donald Trump. So I think to your point, it's going to be very difficult for most Democrats, whether they be party affiliated or just the guys walking on the street to change their opinions.
00:05:02.300And that sounds like a huge compliment to yourself or to pat yourself on the back.
00:05:07.320But what I think that what she's alluding to and what I'm what I'm now suggesting is my identity wasn't wrapped up in my opposition to Donald Trump.
00:05:16.140My identity wasn't wrapped up in seeing those that disagree with me as racists or Nazis.
00:05:21.660It was simply trying to understand reality around me.
00:05:25.580And then perhaps like Joe Rogan or Elon Musk, as you are able to better and more accurately describe and live within reality, you can make adjustments.
00:05:34.540But for too many people on the left, there's no attempt to even see reality because it's about their perception.
00:05:40.340I had a guy yesterday on my show, a leftist who told me Donald Trump was racist, and he said perception is reality.
00:05:46.640And I think that's his problem, that you're living within your perception, and that's why you'll never be able to learn from reality.
00:05:53.680Yeah, I agree with everything you said.
00:05:56.100And let me just add a little twist to it.
00:05:57.500So I inhabit the ecosystem that has the most number of parasitized people.
00:06:07.040And to see my colleagues this morning, so let's say on my personal Facebook page, many of my friends on my personal will be colleagues.
00:06:14.640And these are colleagues that are not marine biologists.
00:06:18.000Usually they're colleagues in my discipline, psychology, behavioral science, decision-making, evolutionary psychology.
00:06:24.160So you would think that if you've spent your entire life studying decision-making, studying persuasion, you might have some sense of introspection.
00:06:33.980Well, I'm here to tell you that the lunacy that they're exhibiting on my Facebook page is so disheartening.
00:06:42.900Because not one of them has stood on top of the mountain and said, you know, in retrospect, I may have been wrong about X, Y, Z.
00:06:50.020They're just doubling down on how much most Americans are degenerate deplorables.
00:07:58.880Remember earlier I said the most difficult thing is for a human mind to change their opinion despite incontrovertible, unassailable evidence?
00:08:38.960So you see, that's what makes it so galling for me because I can't have meaningful conversations with supposed colleagues who are meant to be smart and educated.
00:08:48.020Do you think it how would you predict the next six months, one year and four years of a political climate in America?
00:09:01.680It's my guess, Dr. Saad, that the next six months could be quite fever pitched, that it will continue to be the end of our democracy.
00:09:10.280I do think that Donald Trump's life still remains in jeopardy, especially now that every other mechanism from the legal system to the election process has been exhausted.
00:09:22.000I think that only heightens probabilities that there's one final thing that can be done to stop Donald Trump.
00:09:27.540But then my thought is, after a little while of flailing, like a cornered animal or a dying animal who lashes out, then there will be acceptance.
00:09:37.700There's denial, then there's acceptance.
00:09:40.080And perhaps a year down the road, sanity will begin to be restored.
00:09:45.240This is my prediction and I guess perhaps my hope.
00:09:49.500And perhaps even with a Donald Trump presidency that is a unifying presidency and much different than the one that is predicted, they move on.
00:09:57.540That's sort of my six-month, one-year, four-year prediction.
00:10:00.480How do you see the political climate in America?
00:10:03.680And I almost said the exact same thing to my wife this morning.
00:10:06.360I said, I mean, literally almost the same words.
00:10:08.920I said, look, now that all of the mechanisms of getting him out have failed,
00:10:13.700I really worry that there's only one more thing that can be done, which is let's literally physically go after him.
00:10:20.580But I do share your optimism that once that insanity kind of wanes, that maybe you might have a very productive mandate.
00:10:29.900That said, I want to warn against complacency that now that Donald Trump has come in, the battle has won.
00:10:38.640It took between 50 to 100 years for these parasitic ideas to first be spawned on academic campuses and then proliferate into all nooks and crannies of society.
00:11:14.320I think you are also a political observer and you're also a man of the world.
00:11:17.380So I don't want to put you in a position where I think you are not versed, but I think that you are versed when I ask you this question.
00:11:24.060This what is happening in the United States would not be surprised if we placed into the context of things that have happened across the world.
00:11:31.440Incumbents have lost as inflation has been out of control globally.
00:11:34.360Change has been on the ballot in almost every country.
00:11:40.000There has also been a populist movement.
00:11:43.220Detractors have described it as a far right movement everywhere from Argentina to Hungary.
00:11:48.420But those movements predate this reelection of Donald Trump.
00:11:53.600So we've had some chance to see how does the pendulum swing over time?
00:11:57.940You know, how does it swing in Europe?
00:11:59.760I'm curious, you know, this is a high moment, but politics is always about a pendulum.
00:12:05.560Maybe the victorious party overextends themselves in some way.
00:12:10.380What do you think, if we're looking at the model of Europe, could be the way there is a backlash or a pendulum given some time here in America?
00:12:20.240Look, I'm optimistic because, to your point, you're right that there are many of these auto-corrective mechanisms that are happening around the world.
00:12:28.420But again, I don't want people to be complacent.
00:12:30.800So you have an incoming president who may put a stop to immigration.
00:13:05.440So even if you were to stop immigration from such countries today, that doesn't mean that you're going to address the fact that there are millions of people in your society that don't share your foundational values.
00:13:15.780So I am partly optimistic, but a lot more work needs to be done for us to regain our enlightened societies.
00:13:22.460All right, Dr. Gadzad, it's always great to talk to you.
00:13:27.720It's great to talk to you on the deeper issues of this day.
00:13:30.920You can always, if you're listening or watching, go check out his deeper thoughts in full on With the Parasitic Mind.
00:13:37.820He's got several great books for you to check out.
00:13:40.220And he as well has The Sad Truth with Dr. Sad, which you can watch and listen to whenever you would like.
00:13:48.960Really appreciate the conversation, Dr. Gadzad.